Saturday, February 22, 2014

Earlier this week, the temperature was warm enough that Dominic and I were outside for about an hour before we started getting cold - he didn't even need a hat. Yes, Dominic, believe it or not, that is the pavement. It's been so long since we've seen it, I think he forgot what it was!

Our weather has certainly been interesting this winter - we've had rain, freezing rain, sleet, tons of snow, sub-zero temperatures and high winds. Since the winter began, I have seemed to require more sleep. The hubby has asked me several times since December, "why are you sleeping so much?" He even told me this morning that my "snoring" kept him awake in the middle of the night. Good grief. Both Lauren and Dominic weren't real great sleepers until they were both about three. I had to grab sleep when I could when Lauren was a baby:

Before they were born, I could sleep through anything. Now, even if they cough or sneeze, my mom "radar" goes up! Last Saturday morning at 3 a.m. Dominic woke up, came into our bedroom and promptly got sick on the hubby's side of the bed. I spent the rest of the morning sleeping on the couch in his room. We determined it most likely was a migraine. Thursday afternoon, I went up to just rest for a few minutes on my bed. Before I knew it, it was past 3 p.m., which wouldn't have been such a big deal, except Dominic's bus comes about 4!! I have taken a nap probably three or four times since the winter began, something I NEVER do :) A few weeks ago, Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow and "predicted" six more weeks of winter. Wonderful. I don't know about you, but I don't take advice from a groundhog. This morning, I woke up past 8 a.m. I am usually up a few hours before that, even on the weekends. I'm really beginning to think I have been in a semi-hibernating mode lately. Did you know that black bears in the Northern United States and Canada can hibernate for up to eight months?? Wow, maybe those bears are on to something!! How about you? have you required more sleep since the winter began??

Saturday, February 15, 2014

A few weeks ago, after I had put my groceries in the back of my van after doing a little shopping and was getting ready to hop in my car to go home, I happened to look over and see someone I thought I recognized getting out of her car in the parking lot. She looked at me a few times and I looked at her a few times. I hesitated about another five seconds and then called out her name. We walked over to each other and I said, "I thought that was you!" She said the same thing back to me. I had not seen this woman for at least five years, probably more. We quickly talked about our kids (she asked me if I was a grandmother yet!?!?) and since it was a bit nippy in the parking lot, our conversation was brief. She and I used to be pretty good friends and we didn't have a falling out or a bad ending to a friendship, it was more like just drifting apart from each other. Have you ever run in to someone that you did have a falling out with? Do you acknowledge them or pretend like you didn't see them and go the opposite direction? How about when you see someone you recognize, but if you catch their eye, they give you a look like they've never seen you before in their life? That's happened to me more than a few times. What do you do if you run into a friend you haven't seen in a long time and can't remember their name?? That's REALLY awkward!! Earlier this week, my husband was telling me about someone that had written in to "Miss Manners" about when you're in a public restroom, and you witness someone coming out of the stall and just rinse their hands briefly without using soap. The person writing the letter was thinking of confronting the person about using soap and/or washing their hands properly. The response back from "Miss Manners" was to not say anything to the person. I kind of agree. When I have seen people do that, I just squirt an extra dose of hand sanitizer (that I always have in my purse) into my hands after I leave the restroom. It's not up to me to be the bathroom "police!" It's none of my business anyways. The other day I was thinking about an "encounter" I had at the Kroger back in January. An older lady and I were standing next to each other in the bread aisle when I felt a sneeze coming on, but managed to contain it. That sneeze was following by one that I knew couldn't be kept in. Since I didn't have any Kleenex, I sneezed into the crook of my elbow and the woman next to me said, "thanks for doing that!" I was like, "I didn't think you probably felt like being sneezed on!" She looked over at me and then walked away without saying anything back to me. She acted like she couldn't get away from me fast enough! I thought it was a tiny bit funny :) Oh well, guess you could sum up that entire experience with one word - AWKWARD!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The first Sony Walkman went on sale on July 1, 1979. Both my husband and I each own one. The other day, Dominic found mine downstairs in the basement. I was explaining to him how to use it and given that he has some sensory issues, I was thinking he wouldn't like it. Much to my surprise, he really enjoyed listening to the music on the Walkman. I was telling my husband that I wanted to go to the library and look for some children's books (for Dominic) that have tapes, so you can follow along in the book when you play the tape. Well, when I went to our local library to look for some, the librarian told me they didn't have any! She directed me to some books that had compact discs. Hmm, not exactly what I was looking for. When I told Lauren I wasn't able to get Dominic any books with tapes, she didn't seem surprised, but I was!! Am I that much out of the "loop?" I asked my husband if a place like Best Buy sells music cassettes. He looked at me like I had three heads and said, "they haven't sold those for at least 10 years!" Yikes. I recently showed Dominic a record and asked him if he knew what it was. He told me it was a compact disc!! Well, it does kind of look like a big one :) At dinner about a week or so, I was asking Lauren and my husband what an Mp3 player was. They told me that the Apple i-Pod is a "type" of Mp3 player. I had no idea! I don't mind being a music "dinosaur" at all. It doesn't really bother me. Well, I would love to write more, but I gotta run, I think I'm going to strap on my Walkman, pop in a cassette from my favorite group, Journey, and listen to a few tunes!